Regulating everything: From mega-to meta-regulation
By: Scott, Colin.
Material type:
ArticlePublisher: 2012Description: p.61-89.Subject(s): Regulation
In:
AdministrationSummary: Such is the extent of contemporary regulatory governance that it is possible to characterise the ambition of governments as 'regulating everything'. This article contrasts the highly visible growth in numbers and scope of regulatory agencies in Ireland with the more hidden but highly significant diffusion of regulatory capacity that is evident within regulatory regimes. I argue that the concept of the 'regulatory regime' is helpful for resisting the tendency to overstate the power and significance of regulatory agencies and for drawing in other kinds of actors and other forms of control into our view of governance. I argue that the fragmentation in terms of organisations and forms of control within regulatory regimes creates a problem involving regulatory agencies, not of too much power and too little accountability but rather the converse - too little power and too much accountability. The reconceptualisation of regulation that I offer in this article is centrally concerned with questioning an exclusive focus on ' mega-regulation' - command and control within them, as well as offering a more 'meta-regulatory' image of how the steering capacity of governments might be deployed. - Reproduced.
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Articles
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Indian Institute of Public Administration | Volume no: 60, Issue no: 1 | Available | AR95014 |
Such is the extent of contemporary regulatory governance that it is possible to characterise the ambition of governments as 'regulating everything'. This article contrasts the highly visible growth in numbers and scope of regulatory agencies in Ireland with the more hidden but highly significant diffusion of regulatory capacity that is evident within regulatory regimes. I argue that the concept of the 'regulatory regime' is helpful for resisting the tendency to overstate the power and significance of regulatory agencies and for drawing in other kinds of actors and other forms of control into our view of governance. I argue that the fragmentation in terms of organisations and forms of control within regulatory regimes creates a problem involving regulatory agencies, not of too much power and too little accountability but rather the converse - too little power and too much accountability. The reconceptualisation of regulation that I offer in this article is centrally concerned with questioning an exclusive focus on ' mega-regulation' - command and control within them, as well as offering a more 'meta-regulatory' image of how the steering capacity of governments might be deployed. - Reproduced.
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